Online Registration open; Inshore Class introduced for 2014

Online registration for the 34th St. Maarten Heineken Regatta, taking place 6th – 9th March 2014, is now open at www.heinekenregatta.com. The Notice of Race is also available on the website together with lots of other info on the regatta, the infamous parties and the fabulous Island itself.

The St. Maarten Heineken Regatta had over 200 entries in 2013, making it the biggest regatta in the Caribbean. Competitors travel from 32 different countries to join the regatta.

The St. Maarten Heineken Regatta’s is open to all types of sailors from professional teams and boat owners to friends on a yearly break hiring a boat for the event. Racing classes range from specialist boats such as the Gunboats and the Melges 24 to the Multi-hull class which is the biggest of its kind in the Caribbean. With a growing attendance of the Melges 32 yachts the variety of high class racing boats is on the rise. This is also shown in the quality of the sailors taking part. In previous years sailors such as Bouwe Bekking, Taylor Canfield and Olympian Richard Clarke have taken part.

For 2014, the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta will also include an Inshore Class with the opportunity to show your skills on a Sunfast 20. With this one-design fleet, the regatta is introducing an affordable yet challenging way to enter in the fun. The Sunfast 20 fleet is the same as those used in the invitation-only Budget Marine Match Racing Cup.

Racing will include a variety of courses with mainly windward-leeward, approx. 40 minutes each, and could be inside or outside the lagoon, and could include longer distance races. The SunFast 20 boats have a comfortable cockpit that is well set up and easy to race using just the main sail with a self-tacking jib. They have internal ballast with a swing lift centerboard and rudder.

Any questions and queries can be directed to [email protected]. For full information on the 2014 St. Maarten Heineken Regatta, including entry information, the Notice of Race, photos, videos, party and band information, and more, visit www.heinekenregatta.com

For over three decades, the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta has showcased the top boats and sailing in the Caribbean, and has become equally famous for its world-class slate of parties and musical entertainment. Now recognized by sailors around the planet as one of the sailing world's best regattas, each year the event lives up to its worthy motto: Serious Fun.

For full information on the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta, including entry forms, photos, videos, party and band information, and more, visit www.heinekenregatta.com.

Latest News from Heineken Regatta

The final day of the 34th annual St. Maarten Heineken Regatta closed in outstanding fashion last evening at the traditional Prize-Giving ceremony on Kim Sha Beach. The evening’s top prize-the St. Maarten-Saint Martin Cup-for the regatta’s Most Worthy Performance Overall went to Rich Wesslund’s J/122, El Ocaso, the winner of the event’s biggest division, the 18-boat CSA4 class.

In one of the closest and most dramatic concluding days in the long history of the Caribbean’s biggest annual regatta, 20 division winners in a fleet of 210 boats were crowned this afternoon to wrap up the 34th edition of the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta.

Superb sailing, point-to-point distance racing, classic round-the-buoys windward/leeward courses, perfect spinnaker sets, botched spinnaker douses, and even a busted halyard that ended the racing for one of the event’s largest yachts just moments after it began: It was a wild day. And, when all was said and done, 211 boats that began racing this morning off Simpson Bay, on the Dutch side of St. Maarten, concluded a full day of action in Marigot, on the French shores. There was something for everyone on Day 2 of the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta.

The 34th annual running of the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta got off to a magnificent start this morning as a solid fleet of 211 dedicated racing boats and bareboat charter yachts commenced competition with the traditional opening-day round-the-island race. In sweet easterly tradewinds hovering in the 14-18 knot range, with gusts in the low 20s, the race committees on two racing circles sent the majority of the fleet on a clockwise spin around St. Maarten.

Sponsored by Gill North America, the manufacturer of top sailing gear and the regatta’s official technical gear provider, the Gill Commodore’s Cup serves as the tune-up series to the 34th St. Maarten Heineken Regatta, which begins on Friday, March 7.